Insight's City Guides combine stunning photography with literate text and a smattering of basic travel information. The Insight Venice guide is worth adding to your bookshelf, but its practical advice is getting a bit long in the tooth and its heft makes it less than ideal as a take-along guide. - Durant Imboden, Venice for Visitors, http://govenice.miningco.co

This is a wholly remarkable book. If the story were fiction, it would make an exciting action-adventure movie set against a backdrop of breathtaking Greek countryside, replete with enriching insights into Greek cultural life. That the story is true, and that the events and people described are very real, makes it all the more gripping. But to know that this is the childhood story of my friend and colleague, Anna Christake Cornwell, takes my breath away.

From the opening page, I was struck by the unusual use of present tense coupled with quoted dialogue. The effect was immediate, drawing me in, and would not relinquish its hold on me throughout the book. I felt as if I were there! As the story unfolded and I became more emotionally involved in the characters and their struggles, the book became so thoroughly engaging it was impossible to put down!

Anna's coming-of-age during the war against fascism is a fantastic story in its own right. Robbed of a normal childhood by an invading army and forced to live as a refugee, she nonetheless struggled to maintain her youthful sense of joy and wonder. After experiencing the horrifying loss of family members and friends, Anna took up the cause of freedom by joining the Greek Resistance. As a youth leader, she gave of herself to others, serving as an educator and an agent of social change. Her story causes me to ask myself whether I would (or could) have risen to the occasion and acted so positively and unselfishly as she, if I were in her place.

I am stunned by the brutality, suffering and deprivation that Anna, her family, and the Greek people were forced to endure. Her story, which could not be more timely with regard to world affairs, hardens my belief that war, which brings death, destruction, and misery to so many, is simply not acceptable. The bright spots in this otherwise sobering tale are the glimpses we see of the Greek people's joy and celebration of life, and Anna's personal hopes and dreams for a better future. She stands out as a shining example of a young person who is determined and dedicated to making the world a better place in which to live. I feel fortunate to know Anna, I am honored to be her friend, and I am gratified that she has given us this incredible account of her early years.

This book is definitely not for the casual reader.

As a student of Ancient Greek history it has been invaluable in providing a comprehensive guide to the types of professions, wages and the changes over time but I wouldn't recommend it for anyone other than those with a good knowledge of Ancient Greece or students. The book itself is completely referenced and well structured for academics and students. Classical Greek is a necessity as much of the primary evidence is reproduced in Greek and is not translated.

It is not a book that you can just pick up and read, but it is a most useful reference guide for this basic economic information.

this book contains text and black/white plates. There is lots of text dealing with the various stages of the wedding in ancient Greece. The primary focus of the book is decoding the rituals depicted on various wedding urns. This books only fault is its organization. It would have been nice to have the text and plates incorporated into one another, versus the tedious separation that exists

This book has an excellent overview of Classical Athens and Greek History. I especially liked the chapters on the different deities that the Greeks worshipped. This book is an excellent overview for those interested in learning more about this formative period in history.

Blundell has taken a famous work of art, on the Acropolis, at the heart of Classical Athens, and used it to introduce and discussion women's roles in the city at its height of power. While specialists may disagree with some ideas and therefore profit from considering her take on classical women, her approach is also enticing enough and short enough to keep undergraduates interested. I think this is a great book to use in a women's history course or a course focused on the classical period. Needs better citations overall.

This is a much more complex and demanding novel than his brilliant and fast moving Gates of Fire (reviewed March 28, 2000). This is also a very sobering novel for any American who assumes that our economic prosperity, our international position of unchallenged leadership and the stability of our political institutions are safe and unchallengeable. Pressfield's novel carries Athens from a position of stunning power and wealth just before the beginning of the Peloponnesian War to its defeat and subjugation to the Spartans after 29 years of conflict.

Athens was so powerful and so wealthy that it could survive a plague that may have killed one-third of its population (brought on probably by the need to crowd inside the city's walls to avoid the Spartan Army) and it could fight off Sparta, most of Greece and the Persians for decades. Pressfield makes vivid the decay of Athenian democracy into a bloodthirsty system of revenge and brutality that helps us better understand our own founding fathers' fears of mob rule, tyranny and direct democracy. He uses the life of Alcibiades, a brilliant general and politician whose victories were undermined by his enemies, as a thread that holds together a generation of war and pain.

This is a slightly demanding book to read but it will profoundly trouble anyone who worries about the human propensity to repeat history rather than learn from it. There is much in this work for any American to think about.

Steven Pressfield has made a cottage industry of the historical novel in much the same way as Michael Shaara. Historical fiction offers wondrous advantages to the writer---after all, who needs to generate story ideas when the lives of our forbears offers all the triumph and tragedy we need?

Pressfield debuted in the genre with the marvelous "Gates of Fire", his account of Spartan King Leonidas' last stand at Thermopylae. With "Tides of War", he returns to ancient Greek history, this time relating the story of Alcibiades, the most accomplished politician, rhetorician, and commander of his day.

Undefeated in battle, Alcibiades dominated the scene during the Pelopponesian War. He commanded and counseled leaders on both the Athenian and Spartan sides in the conflict, earning considerable enmity and admiration in both camps. He trucked with the Persians as well, making him almost unique in the annals of history in his ability to play the political chameleon.

"Tides of War" is told from the perspective of Polymides, Alcibiades' assassin, and his legal counsel. Pressfield succeeds wildly in bringing Thucydides' account of the cataclysmic, 27-year long conflict to life. We recognize these long-dead characters in all their complexity---their loves, hates, and follies. When Polymides is betrayed by his wife, we sympathize; when he is swayed by the charismatic Alcibiades, we empathize. Pressfield makes us care about these characters with his brilliant pacing and dialogue.

If you're a student of history or a fan of historical drama, drink deeply from "Tides of War."

In Tides of War, Pressfield takes up the story of the rise and fall of the Greek city-states roughly from where he had left it in Gates of Fire. those who have not read the latter, SHOULD. Both books offer a wonderful portrayal of the ancient world which is neither romantic nor drily historical. They are both excellently researched, beautifully written and well-thought-of. Pressfield understands the Classical Era extremely well, and even if he didn't, he's a very talented author, with a very competent touch on the emotional level.
A note of caution to those who have read Gates of Fire:
This is not a sequel. Its scope is much broader, and its characters very different - and less central to the story. Do not look for the same degree of emotional involvement. This novel is much more historical than its predecessor.
In fact, the contrast between the two books mirrors the contrast between the two eras: the early classical era and the late classical era, which I will not presume to describe in these few lines. Still, one book cannot be fully understood without reading the other. Buy both. They are excellent.

"Dinner with Persephone" chronicles Patricia Storace's experiences and observations during a year she spent living and traveling in Greece. I picked up this book this summer, and brought it with me for a 6-week stay in the Corinthia. In the end, it's a book I have extremely mixed feelings about.

At first I was delighted with the book. Yet as it wore on, I began to grow irritated with Storace's long diatribes. I continually got the sense that she feels she can describe Greeks, Greek culture, and Greek religion definitively in one book -- after living only a year in Athens! Many of her declarations about Greeks and Greek customs don't appear to be grounded in any real research, just her own musings and observations. Towards the end of the book and the end of her stay, she makes a day-trip to Turkey on a ferry, and then a week-long Istanbul trip soon after. Apparently, she feels this brief stay gives her full license to make some incredibly strong statements about the current social state of Turkish women. I couldn't believe her audacity -- this enraging section of the book doesn't seem based on any real encounters with Turkish women. Finally, her long and detailed accounts of how she parries the advances of various Greek and Turkish men grew tiring. Relating these encounters seems to serve little purpose except a lot of ego-stroking.

However, "Dinner with Persephone" still has a lot to recommend itself, mostly in its more poetic, light-hearted parts. Storace has some wonderful pieces of writing in here -- I loved her descriptions of place, and her account of swimming in the Saronic Gulf at the end of summer. I also enjoyed the story "The Godfather," as told to her by one of the many friends she makes along the way. The chapter that is a short biography of Penelope Delta seems slightly out of place, yet still fascinating. Most importantly, she does an admirable job of capturing the dramatic Greek landscape and makes an effort to include elements of Greece's modern history, one of the reasons why I was attracted to the book. These are the true gems of the book, making it a worthwhile read and one to hang onto.

I would recommend "Persephone" but warn the reader to take this in with a critical eye. Storace writes with enough authority to be dangerous -- I met a lot of Americans traveling in Greece who had read "Dinner with Persephone" and still regard her book as gospel! It's as if they're content to just let her opinions speak for Greek culture and not interact or draw any conclusions out of their own experience. I found that the Americans and Europeans I met who spend a great deal of time traveling and/or working in Greece were more critical of this book.

This is an incredibly provocative book, and even more so if the reader is of Greek descent or has spent considerable time in Greece. It is a valuable "must read", as it does a superb job in showing the quintessential slices of Greek life, the complexity of Greek history and identity, and the pathos and chronic idealization by the Greeks of their state, their land, their religion, their history, and themselves. Finally, her treatment of the psychology of the development of the individual within the larger family system and of relations within that system is brilliant.

My disappointments with this book are two. First, as another reviewer put it so well, "Unfortunately, she condescends towards the Greeks, and sees them as dysfunctional -- largely because they aren't American." It seems to me to be the first rule of travel writing, for an author, to get as involved in the people as one can; we always get a sense with this author, however, that she is a sort of pedagogue, or Anglophile foreign correspondent, who transmits "facts" in such a way that she is completely ignorant (or not) of their highly judgmental quality (something akin to the impression left by the phrase, "those charming peasants..."). Second, her writing style is prepossessing, overly involved, and filled with so many clauses yearning to be lines of poetry that the reader can get the sense that she is just trying to show off. I often found myself just wishing she'd say something simply, or without her tedious and endless analogies and metaphors.

In closing, there are some --if not racist -- then very distasteful references to Greeks en mass, something akin to "they all look alike". How ignorant and disappointing. Still, a thoroughly enjoyable, valuable, and provocative book, and one worth reading.

I just finished reading this book after buying it for my Greek-American mother last Christmas, and I found the book to be an enchanting view of Greece from an outside perspective.

Patricia Storace has captured many of the contradictions of Greece, Hellenism and the Greek Orthodox soul; all while telling refreshingly entertaining stories. To read this book as a critique of modern Greek society or Hellenic history would be a grave mistake...that clearly is not the author's intention. Instead, Storace provides a satisfying and sometimes critical outsider's travelogue which took me back to the Greece that I grew up in and love with all its beauty, strength and flaws.

I recommend this book for its light yet refreshingly intriguing approach to life in modern Greece.

I can't believe how you nice little English people can actually edit such terrible and unbelievable books! I hope you'll never ever get another book published!

This play by Shakespeare has had a tremendous influence. First it was trasnformed into an opera by Purcell under the title of The Fairy Queen. Second it was widely known in Germany at the time of Goethe, but under the title of The Walpurgis Night. Goethe himself alludes to it in Faust and composes his Walpurgis Night at the end of the Faust as the prolongation of the end of Shakespeare's play. What is interesting in this play is the fact that the world of spirits, the night in the forest are used as elements to create a marvellous and light comedy. No witchcraft in all this. An entertaining though slightly grotesque tale. The Queen and King of the fairies use their powers to make fun of simple men, even providing Bottoms with the head of an ass (an old practice from the Middle Ages when the bishop of the pope were shown as being asses in the Masses of Fools or of Asses, some « carnival » rites authorised by the Church). But what is most important in this play is the fact that the fairies, with all their antics, make three marriages possible, and that is the end of the play. Three marriages, two times three people, three men and three women, the sacred number of Salomon. This ending is a christian ending. And when we add to these three marriages the couple of the Queen and King of Fairies, we come to the number of four couples, which is the sign of perfect equilibrium in Shakespeare. We find such a umber (four marriages) in As you Like It. Finally the whole play, or nearly it all, takes place in the night, the realm of Selene, the goddess of the night and the moon, who is only one of the three facets of Diana, the goddess of forests, animal life and hunting, whose third facet is Hecate, the goddess of death. This threeforld nature of Diana is constantly present in the play. It is the very symbol of the fairies. We must understand that for Shakespeare three is the number of disruption, chaos and the fairies bring chaos, though, in the end perfect equilibrium is achieved. The last element concerns the style of Shakespeare. He adapts his style to every character, moving from the highest and most perfect poetry with the King and Queen of fairies or with Theseus and Hippolyta, to a very simple language with the six (six again) craftsmen who prepare a play for Theseus and Hippolyta's wedding. In other words it is a light comedy that carries Shakespeare's whole art in its lines. A perfect introduction to this art, and with a lot of fun, thanks to the pranks fo Puck, a light-headed fairy of his own.

Dr Jacques COULARDEAU

I loved this book so much. This story is just so magical with mischevious Puck and glimmering Titania. I enjoyed this book from cover to cover!

This book, which covers one of the most remarkable eras in the history of mankind, attempts to be both scholarly and literary/popular. Unfortunately, while the content of it is utterly fascinating, the way it is written - or translated - leaves much to be desired: the style is flat and dull, frequently unclear, and simply a chore to plod through.

That being said, it covers the flowering of Athens as an imperialist democracy after the defeat of the Persian invasion that briefly united Greece. In the wake of the peace that followed, Athens used the Delian League to create an empire, drawing enormous wealth into the city state and dominating innumerable smaller states, eventually threatening the hegemony of the Spartans in the Pelopponesus. By developing a naval empire, the Athenians needed to enlist the loyalty of lower classes to man the boats and serve as hoplites, which encouraged the development of direct democracy.

Meier meticulously covers the details of these developments in a masterful synthesis of scholarship - it is a kind of updating of the Kulturgeschichte of Burckhart and is very valuable. THe reader is treated to the unique characteristics of Athens as well: it was in an era before there were "specialists" and so everyone was expected to participate in the city's governance, sometimes by elections and sometimes by lot; for historical reasons, Greece had lacked heredity kingships (and empires) to fall back on, preferring instead to guard the independence of smaller and more directly governable city states.

What was particularly interesting was Meier's portrayal of the excitment - the sense that all boundaries were crumbling - that permeated Athens of this period. In this he is certainly correct: we see the rise of Perikles, the great Greek trajedians, the beginning of modern philosophy, the flowering of artistic realism, and new forms of architecture. Meier views all of these developments as of a living organism, mixing political history with art criticism and long interpretations of the contemporary events that the dramas may have been referring to. In spite of these achievements, Meier also studies the fatal flaws and contradictions of this democratic experiment, in Athens' need to subjugate others in the name of democracy, the tendency of the citizens to indulge in excess and sudden blame, and the rise of demagogues. Thus, the portrait of the city is very well rounded. From that point, Meier moves to more military history, chronicalling the catastrophies of the Peloponessian War in painful detail. It is here, really, that the notion of the West and Europe were born.

However, it is amazing to me that the book is so poorly edited. The prose is leaden and utterly lacking in style, as in so much of the academic tradition. But the content is so interesting and compelling that it kept my interest through 600 pages. Indeed, I want to read more on the period.

Recommended.

I thoroughly enjoyed Meier's narrative style, but was somewhat disappointed by his lack of references. Even outright quotations were not footnoted, and I often had no idea where the quote came from! Many of Meier's views are obviously well informed, but he certainly had time to address opposing views. The only reason that I can think of as to why he chose not to defend his views (but only describe them) is that he intended this work to me for popular instruction. If so, he succeeds. The book drags on during periods (such as early Athens) when he describes mostly sociological details, but becomes far more engaging when he actually has a personality to describe (such as Solon or Pericles). Since the book focuses on the fifth century, there is scant information on earlier figures, such as Cylon and Pissistratus. This is unfortunate, because the title (and thickness of the book) suggests a more exhaustive account of the polis in question. Finally, Meier deals well with the interactions between Athens and other poleis, though I still would like to see him address opposing theories and document his sources. If I were grading for a scholar, I would give this three stars, but if you are a beginner at this topic, the current rating of four is more appropriate.

At the end of the third chapter I agreed very much with the criticisms of the reviewer from Brooklyn above. Meier does make some very abstract sociological arguments in his chapter on "the Greek Way," and they also made me uneasy. But the many chapters that follow elaborate on them in quite concrete ways and the book becomes sufficiently grounded in details to satsify me thoroughly. I particularly enjoy Meier's comments on the great tragedies when he arrives at the year of their original performances in Athens' amazing century.